Flight 739 was a Super Constellation propliner aircraft operated by the Flying Tiger Line. It had been chartered by the United States military to transport 93 United States Army personnel and 3 South Vietnamese from Travis Air Force Base, California to South Vietnam. It had a crew of 11.

After refueling on Guam, the plane was en route to Clark Air Base in the Philippines when it disappeared on March 16, 1962 over the Western Pacific Ocean. All 107 aboard were declared missing and presumed dead.

No trace of wreckage or debris of Flight 739 was ever recovered.

Based on the report by a civilian tanker which stated that it observed what appeared to be an explosion in the sky in the vicinity where the aircraft would have been, it was concluded that Flight 739 exploded in-flight.

I have a somewhat personal connection to Flight 739. On March 15, 1962, when I was 13 years old, my family and I were waiting to fly out of Guam back to the States to visit my dying grandfather. At the terminal, while we were waiting to board our flight, Flight 739 landed and taxied up and stopped directly behind our plane.I remember the soldiers disembarking from their plane and entering the terminal. They were so glad to be off the plane after a long flight and able to stretch their legs. Most were joking and laughing with each other.One of the soldiers, an Asia-American, who I now believe was James Wong, bought me a coke.After a little while, the soldiers watched us as we boarded our plane and took off on our flight to Hawaii. When we landed at Honolulu, my dad told us that Flight 739 had vanished a short while after it left Guam.This made quite an impression on a 13 year old youngster. I learned that one minute you can be so alive and vibrant and the next minute you're gone.To this day, I have never forgotten the soldiers of Flight 739 and can still see them coming into the terminal building on Guam, forever young and alive.

When I heard these lyrics from the song "Angels Came Down" I thought of the men and crew of Flight 739:

The angels came down to the fallen menAnd they held their hands as they prayed for themThey carried their souls beyond the moon and the sunAll the way to heaven one by one.